(File photo/battlefordsNOW Staff)

By Angela Brown

Other road improvements planned

City to postpone Territorial Drive and Hwy 4 repaving project to next year

Jun 30, 2021 | 10:00 AM

The City of North Battleford will refocus some of its budgeted funding for paving work this year from one larger project to a number of smaller pavement projects.

City director of operations Stewart Schafer said in his report to council Monday the estimated cost for the resurfacing work at the Territorial Drive and Highway 4 intersection keeps climbing, and is more money than the city budgeted for. So it might be more efficient for the city to use this funding for other road projects requiring improvements for this year and then budget accordingly the Territorial Drive project for next year instead.

“The spring of 2021 was hard on the roads within the city, causing a higher number of frost boils than expected,” Schafer said, so there are a number of areas needing work.

While crews have repaired several frost boils throughout the city, there are still more areas to be fixed.

For the Territorial Drive project, the estimated amount for the project actually started at $40,000 in 2020; then increased to $80,000 in 2021 when it was determined the area was larger than anticipated. The city budgeted $80,000 in 2021, according to the increased size of the work but from there, estimates increased to $106,000 as pavement cost went up, and now to $160,000 based on the June inspection.

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“On this last bout, it was found they would need to mill more of the intersection, and farther out on the intersection. At which point, we said: ‘We better stop here; we don’t have the money for all this extra milling you are requesting,'” Schafer said.

Administration would also be able to apply for funding from the province’s Urban Highway Connector Program (UHCP) for 25 per cent of this repaving project cost, Schafer said.

Council agreed with administration’s recommendation.

As well, Coun. Greg Lightfoot enquired whether the city could possibly save some money next year by tendering this project along with potential improvements at the section of Territorial Drive near the Sobeys entrance as a joint project.

“Maybe we might get a better price because there is more work involved,” he said.

Schafer said administration will look into that for the proposal for 2022.

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Angela.Brown@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @battlefordsnow